Do you believe in superstitions? Sometimes I do believe it, not because I believe the irrational reason behind it but it's been like a habit for me to believe it in order to avoid bad things that might happen. Sounds a bit silly I know, but my parents always told me to believe it...so I ended up growing up believing on those things. Other than that, I live in Indonesia in which we still believe on traditional stories and folks and we do have strong cultures. We tend to listen to our parents and grandparents. But as time goes by, I believe it in a way that somehow it has a logical reason behind every superstitious thing. But how about the superstitions below? I just came across an article about superstitious things. That's the reason why I was talking about superstitious things. Here are some of the superstitions written by Allison Ford from DivineCaroline and the reasons why they exist. You may believe it or you may not, It's all up to you...
Superstitions and Why They Exist
- Don’t Spill the Salt!
Salt is one of our most ancient and versatile foodstuffs, used for preserving food as well as flavoring it. For most of history, it was incredibly valuable, too, sometimes even used as currency. Spilling such a precious commodity was akin to dumping the thirty-year-old Scotch down the drain. For anyone who was careless enough to waste salt, throwing a pinch over the left shoulder was said to keep the devil away, since he was sure to be following you after such a grievous offence.
- Walking Under Ladders Brings Bad Luck
This superstition has its roots in religion. Some Christians believe that any object with three points—like a ladder leaning against a house—represents the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Early Christians believed that to destroy or subvert a three-pointed object (like by walking through it) one was expressing disbelief in the Trinity, and would therefore probably go to Hell. As religious conviction softened, the promise of eternal damnation was relaxed to merely the threat of bad luck. I admit to following the rule against walking under ladders, but for a more practical purpose—I don’t care for things dropping on my head, as is wont to happen when people are working above.
- Un-Lucky Number Thirteen
Plenty of otherwise rational people are loath to schedule important events on the thirteenth of the month, and many buildings and towns don’t even include a thirteenth floor or thirteenth street, because so many people believe the number to be cursed. The origins of this superstition are factually tenuous, and there are many theories about how it came about. Christian theology teaches that Judas was the thirteenth guest at the Last Supper, making him unlucky. Norse mythology states that the god Loki, who was the thirteenth guest at a banquet, killed the hero, Balder. Not to mention the fact that several serial killers have thirteen letters in their name, like Charles Manson or Jeffrey Dahmer. Fear of the number thirteen even has its own name, triskaidekaphobia, and many sufferers refuse to be the thirteenth guest at a party, or to sit in row thirteen on an airplane for fear that some terrible fate will befall them. In reality, there’s no credible evidence to suggest anything sinister about any particular number, and in some cultures, the number thirteen is actually considered quite lucky.
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